The invention relates to a device for guiding an information carrier which is in tape form and moves between two reels, the device being situated in the path of tape transport between the two reels and is in the form of a guide member along which the tape is moved with a certain tape tension.
A device of this kind is described in Dutch Patent Application No. 7,907,293 as a component of a cassette for a recording carrier in tape form. In this known device, the guide member consists of a cylindrical body which on the one hand is disposed in a fixed position in relation to the cassette, but on the other hand is rotatable about a shaft fastened to the body of the cassette. During the transport of the optical tape from one reel to the other, the tape runs over this rotatable cylindrical body and is at the same time positioned in relation to an optical read/write head, so that by way of a window in the side wall of the cassette light can fall onto that part of the recording carrier tape which at that moment is supported by the cylindrical guide body.
Although the use of a rotatable guide member has the effect that friction between a carrier tape and that member is very slight or completely absent, the use of a rotatable member mounted on a separate shaft, which in turn has to be fastened to the front or rear wall of the cassette, is a serious disadvantage in respect to cost. In devices of this kind it is generally attempted to use the smalles number of moving parts, and in particular as small as possible a number of moving parts which have to be accurately and effectively mounted if the rotation is to take place with the least possible hindrance.